I could lose myself

Thursday, December 6, 2012

I could lose myself

(Continued)

After a minute or two of introductions and niceties Enrique asked who Kevin was.
He was appalled that I'd left him behind and explained that as a good Argentine it was his duty to make sure no-one was left behind.
I had no idea where we were going to try and put Kev.

In a minute or two more we were pulled up back in town next to a confused Kevin, and were playing a monster game of Tetris with crates of jarred cherries, boxes of raspberries, sacks of peaches and assorted junk in the flat-bed.

A nearly Kev-sized was eventually made in one rear seat, and Kevin managed to get his bag under a large iron bed-frame propped from the flat-bed to the roof.
I put mine on the bed-frame, clipping the strap through the thick, iron slats with a karabiner.

Soon we were zooming along being force-fed peaches and cherries (which did actually help free up some room inside) and learning about the extent of political corruption in Argentina and South America.
Enrique got quite heated, and I'm sure at times a bit racist, but the best we could do was agree fervently and assure him that our own nations have issues too.

The first hundred-and-fifty kilometres were without a single bend, waver or kink - it was exactly, perfectly and dead straight for an impossibly long time.
I could see why we didn't get a lift along it.

After a while I jokingly said to Kevin in the back:
"Our bags still there?"
"No. The whole bed-frame's gone..." Was the reply, in total dead-pan.

Enrique stopped sharply and we got out to assess - the bed-frame had gone as had my bag and some plants and dirt also in the back.
He turned around tyres kicking up a cloud of dust on each verge and without a word said we were flying back the opposite direction, all eyes scanning the roadsides.
We found a couple of the plants 10 or more minutes back - and after a while more the whole bed-frame, which had been dragged to the side of the road and my bag removed.

Balls.